Russian airline UTair approached a runway at Barcelona’s El Prat airport on Saturday as an Aerolineas Argentinas crossed its path.

Miguel Angel Ramirez

A passenger plane preparing to leave Barcelona’s El Prat airport on Saturday taxied across a runway just as another plane was about to land, forcing the arriving plane to abort its landing and climb sharply to avoid a possible disaster, according to the Associated Press.

Miguel Angel Ramirez captured the dramatic moment Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus 340 crossed the runway as the aircraft from Russian airline UTair was descending in a video taken on Saturday.

Spanish airport authority Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA) said Monday the UTair plane, which officials described only as a Boeing, circled back and landed safely. None of the passengers on either plane was hurt.

AENA said it has opened an investigation into what happened. It had no details on how close the planes were at the time of the incident.

Comments (5 of 26)

Been there, done that - as I watched the incoming plane approach our plane as it crossed the landing path, not a murmur was heard in the cabin - most people were probably not paying attention - I watched the landing plane pass behind our plane - I could not tell how close its wing tip was to the tail of our plane - but one-second's difference would have resulted in a crash. So many airports, I cannot now remember which one.

12:04 pm July 12, 2014

Anonymous wrote:

What's with the cameras being right there, even tracking the Skyteam plane from a different angle? Not saying it didn't happen, but the cinematography was certainly well done for an unplanned incident.

5 hours north of Paris is Milton Keynes! I'd say Beauvais is only about 30 minutes further away from Paris centre than Charles de Gaulle airport

2:35 am July 8, 2014

Ragu wrote:

All these tasks should be automated. One tier of automation and the second tier of manual inspection - in case if automation couldn't identify the issue (happens rarely). Contact me at twitter for consultation -- @ragavendra